Le zèbre

Sascha Guitry actor and the original lead in CAGE AUX FOLLES, Poiret tries to put together something as quirky as those, in this story of Marriage Registrar L'Hermitte, who wants to keep his relationship with teacher-wife Cellier alive by kinky sex games.

The jokes are mainly unfunny and the attempt at a final twist is just weird. The piece plays off the charm of the leads and the glossy production values to little effect.

The scene where the masked man has his way of Cellier is quite erotic and out of character with the rest of the film and what do we make of the citation of LE COURBEAU, complete with letter fluttering into the church? A sad footnote to Poiret's acting career.

An outstanding film that gracefully makes the transition from wacky comedy to drama in the final minutes. Simply put, this film has it all, especially a large number of zany moments that should have you laughing out loud, but it's the sweet ending that you'll remember best once the film is over.

The divorce rate has risen alarmingly by around 40 per cent in the last decade in France as it is here that more than a third of marriages end in divorce. In such a sorry 'state of affairs' for marriage, it is heartening to note that a film has been made in France which talks about love and marriage and the impact which these concepts have on married people's lives. Le Zèbre/The Oddball is a joy to watch solely due to the presence of actors namely Thierry Lhermitte and Caroline Cellier. About Thierry Lhermitte, it can be said that like Gérard Lanvin before him, he could have been more far more popular as an actor outside of France if more challenging 'thinking man' type of roles had landed on his lap. The same thing can also be said about Caroline Cellier who played an important role in Chabrol's classic "Que La Bête Meure". It is rather unfortunate that not many challenging roles were given to her. It is through these two actors that we get a chance to know more about the status of marriage in French society. French actor/director Jean Poiret and his team of screenwriters ask whether a couple can lead a happy life after 15 years of marriage ? This question is raised as there are times when one gets the feeling that it is difficult to let the same passion of love continue in a marriage. However, despite its noble sense of purpose, this film suffers enormously as its protagonist employs crazy methods to ignite passion in his married life despite having good intentions in his mind.

LE ZEBRE (The Oddball). Bittersweet romantic comedy about happily married Hippolyte (Thierry Lhermitte), a likable, clownish-yet-successful lawyer, and beautiful Camille (Caroline Cellier), a philosophy lecturer. Natalie and Lauren are their children. Hippolyte becomes overly obsessed, trying to restore passion into their marriage. He devises zany, secretive, amorous schemes to entice and arouse Camille. At first, she is flattered but confused, since she has many admirers. She then becomes irritated by the demeaning nature of his schemes. Gregoire (Christian Pereira), their close friend, often serves as an intermediary. Because of Hippolyte's capricious and somewhat sadistic nature, the ending seems inconclusive (at least to me). Possible sequel?, "Return of the Oddball"(?).

In the landscape of French cinema, Jean Poiret was a crucial figure because he displayed admirable skills in various domains of the Seventh Art. He formed a successful comical duo with actor Michel Serrault, he wrote plays that remained in many memories like la Cage aux Folles and as an actor, he sometimes gave unforgettable performances like irrepleacable Inspector Lavardin in Claude Chabrol's universe. With le Zèbre (1992), being in the shoes of a filmmaker was the last mountain left to climb for him. Taken from a novel by Alexandre Jardin and given that the main actress, Caroline Cellier was his beloved wife in real life, his first and sadly last feature length movie was tailor-made for him. Thus, Poiret turned a banal reading into a personal work dedicated to his muse.

At first sight, le Zèbre looks like many mundane French comedies but Jean Poiret accumulated enough savoir-faire throughout his career to bestow his work with a singular whiff and the result works for all the better. It may be a a somewhat unassuming comedy, there's even room for detective genre with twists to maintain the interest even at the tail end when you think everything is resolved. In spite of false ways and mysteries, you quickly guess that Hippolyte's responsible for all these clues and he has good personal reasons to act his own way: he doesn't want his love life to fall in a humdrum one and tries to make it spicy in any way possible. This valuable goal gives way to delightful, zany comical sequences in which Poiret effectively directs his actors to avoid overracting.

But as the comedy progresses, its tone also gradually changes. If the first half is anchored in the kingdom of comedy, then the second part borders on the edges of drama with a wistful vibe without necessarily losing the half-tender, half caustic side from which the movie takes its strengths. It's obvious that far beyond the laughter and through his eccentric main character, the filmmaker conceived his movie as an ode to his wife but he also put forward his own doubts and anxieties about their relationship and fortunately, this change of perspective remains very convincing. And when you know that Poiret died shortly after finishing shooting his work, emotion easily comes in the end.

To quote a song from Belle & Sebastian, "it could have been a brillant career". It? Poiret's ride as a filmmaker for le Zèbre was a fullfilling success and given his fate, one can only ponder this question: where Poiret would have gone next afterwards?